The invention herein described was made in the course of or under a contract or subcontract with the Department of Energy.
This invention is directed to a seal for a sodium sulfer battery in which the sealing is accomplished by two radial compression seals located one above the other on a ceramic component of the battery which separates an anode compartment from a cathode compartment of the battery.
A prior art search conducted on the subject matter of this application resulted in the citation of U.S. Pats. Nos. 3,928,071 and 3,939,007. I believe that these patents are not related to the subject matter of this application because they do not show a double radial compression seal located one above the other against a ceramic component of the battery of the nature that is disclosed herein. The U.S. Pat. No. 3,928,071 uses a glass seal 34 to contact the ceramic inner casing 11 and upon reading the rest of this specification one will immediately recognize that it is not analgous or similar in any manner to the seal shown herein.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,939,007 has an alpha alumina flange 8 bonded to an inner tube 1 in a manner which also is not analgous or suggestive of the particular structure herein disclosed, as will be readily apparent upon reading of this specification.
The type of seal structure that I am aware of with respect to the seal structure disclosed in this specification is that seal structure taught in U.S. application Ser. No. 954,967, filed of even date herewith by R. Minck, et al. for SEAL FOR SODIUM SULFER BATTERY. That seal construction proposes radial compressive seals be made on opposite sides of a ceramic element of a sodium sulfur battery. The disclosure also suggests that a single radial seal may be made on one side of the ceramic material and a different type of seal be made on the other side of the ceramic material. That disclosure in no way teaches or suggests a seal construction of the specific type disclosed herein wherein radial seals are made one above the other against the outside diameter of a ceramic tube used to separate an anode compartment of the battery from a cathode compartment of the battery.